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The conversation must have gone better than I thought it would because I didn’t notice much change in Rodrigo that day until it came time to close up the shop. He approached me where I was working and had just a half smile on his face instead of his usual beaming mouthful of sparkling teeth.
“Hey, Tay,” he said sounding a little forlorn.
“Hey, Rodrigo,” I responded, offering him a smile.
“Guess you know?” He asked with a hint of uncertainty.
“Dad told me. I’m really sorry, Rodrigo. I wish I had another job prospect so I could just step aside and let you stay.”
He shook his head. “Are you kidding? This is yours. It’s your dad's place; of course, you’re going to stay. This is going to be yours someday. You’ve got to keep working until you finally know a little bit about cars. Maybe you’ll be a good mechanic eventually.”
I grinned at his sarcasm, happy he could make a joke. I wiped my hands off and leaned in to give him a tight hug.
“I’m going to miss you,” I said, surprised at how much I meant it.
“I’ll miss you, too.” He said as he pulled back and looked at my face with an intensity I wasn’t anticipating. “But hey, now that I’m not working for your dad…”
I shook my head. “You’re ridiculous. And you have two more weeks.”
It was his turn to shake his head. “Nah, I told him I’d let today be my last day here. Need to find something else as soon as I can.”
“I understand,” I said with a nod. “Just don’t be a stranger, okay?”
He smiled. “Promise. See you later, Tay.”
I waved as I watched him get into his pickup truck and drive away then went inside to check on my dad in his office.
“That was simpler than I thought it would be,” I said the words as I entered the office and caught my dad off guard as he was leafing through some documents. He still looked worried, but I assumed it was from the stress of having to let one of his best employees go.
“What? Oh, yeah. He took it really well. I’m happy about that. I hope he’s able to find something soon.”
I watched my dad as he looked through some papers on his desk, appearing pretty distracted.
“Are you looking for something, Dad?”
He looked up at me then and tried to smile. “Oh, no. Just…this place is a mess, isn’t it? Maybe I should get around to organizing things someday.”
“Do I need to check your temperature? That’s some crazy talk coming from you.”
He laughed. “Oh well, you know people change sometimes.”
I nodded. Sometimes they did, but most of the time they didn’t.
“I’m going to head out then and go pick up Sam. See you tomorrow.”
“See you later, Tay.”
Same as the previous night, I spent some time on my appearance before heading further into the city to pick up Samantha from work—only this time I did it with Jake Mesa in mind, as much as I hated to admit it to myself. The guy had caught my eye and even if I thought there wasn’t a chance that anything was going to happen there, I might as well show up looking my best. I could make him wish he had a chance with me and make it clear that it was never going to happen, something I figured Mr. Mesa rarely if ever, experienced.
I entered the bar from the staff entrance again, this time in a red bodycon dress that hugged every contour of my body in a way that left little to the imagination. It would take everything I could muster plus Celeste’s help to keep the guys away from me tonight.
“Good evening,” I said as I took a seat at the bar.
Celeste did a double take. “Jesus, not that you didn’t look great last night, but shit girl. Pretend you’re with someone otherwise the group that is here tonight isn’t going to leave you alone.”
I smiled at her. “Can I just get a glass of white wine? Pinot grigio if you have it.”
She nodded. “Not a problem.”
